English speakers use the possessive construction to say that one noun belongs to another noun (X has Y). We also use the possessive to express other close relationships between two nouns. There are two main ways to form a possessive construction:
possessor's
noun
noun
possessor
But you can also use possessive adjectives (e.g. my, your, our...) or possessive pronouns (e.g. mine, yours, ours).
In this post, we’ll explore what a possessive is and how we use it in English. Let’s go ahead and dive right in!
What is a possessive phrase?
Possessive phrases show that one noun belongs to another noun. Here are some of the situations where you can use a possessive phrase in English:
To show show that one noun owns another noun (possessions belong to an owner):
- Maria’s purseMaria owns the purse
- the teacher’s housethe teacher owns the house
To show that one noun usually uses another noun (tools belong to the user):
- the dog’s leashthe dog uses the leash
Often this is used when someone regularly uses an institution (institutions belong to the people who use them):
- Andy’s schoolAndy uses or goes to that school
To show that one noun is the creator of another noun (art belongs to an artist):
- Jane Austen’s novelJane Austen wrote the novel
- a goat's milkthe goat made the milk
To show that one noun is part of another noun (pieces belong to a whole):
- the pages of the bookthe book doesn’t own the pages, but the pages belong inside the book
- the leaves of a treethe tree doesn’t own the leaves, but the leaves are pieces of the tree
To describe the role that a noun plays in someone’s life (or the “life” of an object!):
- Mary’s motherdescribes someone who is a mother to Mary
- the author of Crime and Punishmentdescribes someone who is an author to Crime and Punishment
To show that something happened at a particular time (an event belongs to a time):
- yesterday’s meetingthe meeting happened yesterday
- tomorrow’s weatherthe weather that will happen tomorrow
To show that one noun is generally or always at a location (something belongs to a place):
- the mayor of New Yorkthe mayor for/in the city of New York
- San Francisco’s bridgesthe bridges that exist in San Francisco
What are the types of possessive phrases in English?
There are four ways to form a possessive phrase in English: with the possessive -'s, with the preposition of, with possessive adjectives, and with possessive pronouns.
Possessive -'s:
John’s schoolthe school belongs to JohnWith of:
the sound of rainthe sound belongs to the rainPossessive adjective:
my housethe house belongs to mePossessive pronoun:
a friend of minethe friend belongs to me
We use possessive -'s and possessives with of when the possessor is a noun and we use the other two when the possessor is a pronoun. In this post, we’ll focus on the first two.
Check out our posts on English possessive adjectives and English possessive pronouns to learn more about these other two types.
Let’s look more closely now at the possessive -'s and the possessive with of!
Possessives with the possessive -’s
The possessive -’s (sometimes called the “Saxon genitive”) is the most common way to form a possessive phrase when the possessor is a noun for a person or an animal. Form a possessive phrase with the possessive -’s like this:
possessor noun
possessed noun
It is important to remember that when you use the possessive -'s, the possessor noun comes first! This is not the same for all kinds of possessive phrases!
It sounds simple, but there are some tricky things about using the possessive -'s that even native English speakers sometimes get confused about. Let’s take a closer look at the possessive -'s.
How to add possessive -’s to singular nouns?
In writing, we add -'s to the end of a singular noun, no matter how it ends.
- brother → brother's
- Jess → Jess's
We pronounce singular words with the possessive -'s in the same way we would pronounce words with the plural -s. So remember, if possessive -'s comes after “hissy” sounds like s, z, ch, sh, or dge, add a syllable.
Jess [jess] → Jess's [jess·iz], ❌[jesss]
How to add possessive -’s to plural nouns?
If the plural possessor is an irregular plural noun (meaning that it doesn’t end in plural -'s), we follow exactly the same rule that we follow for singular nouns. Just add the possessive -'s to the end of the plural noun:
But unfortunately, things get tricky when the possessor is a regular plural noun!
In English, regular plural nouns, like brothers, swings, dogs, and parents, already have plural -s ending. So if you added both the plural -s and the possessive -'s, you’d have a lot of extra [s] sounds. Here is how we solve this problem to form possessives out of regular plural nouns.
In writing, we add the plural -s, but we only add the apostrophe (’) from the possessive -'s, not the whole ending.
- dogs → dogs'
- possessor nounplural -spossessive apostrophepossessed nounthe dogs' toysthe toys belong to a group of dogs
When speaking, we do not pronounce the -'s if it follows the plural -s. We pronounce these possessive forms of a regular plural noun exactly the same way that we pronounce the plural noun on its own:
- possessor nounplural -spossessive apostrophepossessed nounmy parents' car
✅[mai parents kar] (just like my parents)
❌[mai parents·iz car]
How to add possessive -’s to a list of nouns
If there are two nouns that are equal possessors together, we put the possessive -'s at the end of the list of owners:
If there are two nouns that own two separate things, we put the possessive -'s after each noun:
Which nouns can have a possessive -’s?
Technically, any noun can have the possessive -'s. However, native speakers usually only add the possessive -'s to nouns for living things.
It is also okay to add possessive -'s to time expressions, words for natural events, locations, or some words for collective nouns for people. These are non-living nouns that we think of as having some “life.”
- this weekend’s forecastA weekend is a period of time.the storm’s strengthA storm is a natural event.
- New York's mayorNew York is a location.the government’s policiesThe government is run by people.
Want to know a more common way to form a possessive when the possessor is not a human or an animal? Keep reading!
Possessives with ‘of’: How and when to use them in English?
We usually make possessive phrases with of when the possessor noun is not a person or an animal. Here is how to use of to make a possessive phrase:
possessed noun
possessor noun
Did you notice that in this type of possessive phrase, the first noun is the possessed noun comes first?
This is because when you form a possessive with of, you are forming a prepositional phrase (of + possessor noun) that describes the possessed noun. Just like when we use other prepositional phrases to describe nouns (e.g. the dog in the window, the pencil on the table), a prepositional phrase comes after the noun it describes, not before.
When to use ‘of’ to form a possessive phrase?
We most often use possessors with of to show that something is part of a whole.
- the engine of the airplaneThe engine is a part of the airplane.
- the wheels of the busThe wheels are a part of the bus.
- the roofs of the housesThe roofs are part of the houses.
But we do use of to express other kinds of possession. For example:
- the colors of my favorite Basketball teamthe colors belong to the team
- the story of my lifethe story is about my life – we often use the story of + noun to name a story
And of is even used before people to sound a bit more formal or impressive. Often these nouns sound like titles:
- the mother of the bridea title for the bride’s mother during a wedding
- the crown of Queen Elizabeththis sounds like a museum sign. It is more impressive than Queen Elizabeth’s Crown
How to layer possessive phrases?
In English, we can layer possessive phrases. What does that mean? Let’s look at an example:
If Jane has a mother, and her mother has a father, you can describe him like this:
- Jane’s mother’s father
Do you see how that works? First create one possessive phrase, Jane’s mother, then use the whole possessive phrase as the possessor of another possessive phrase, Jane’s mother’s father.
In English you can layer possessive phrases of all kinds:
- the signature of the mayor of CincinnatiThe signature belongs to the mayor. The mayor belongs to Cincinnati.
- Kaitlyn’s daughter’s birthdayThe birthday belongs to the daughter. The daughter belongs to Kaitlyn.
- their dog’s toyThe toy belongs to the dog. The dog belongs to them.
You can even make very long layered possessive phrases, like this:
- the window of Leo’s best friend’s older brother’s car
Can you figure out what that means?
You are describing a window. That window belongs to a car. The car belongs to an older brother. The older brother belongs to a best friend. That best friend belongs to Leo! Just look at all that possession!
Summary
In this post, we’ve taken a look at possessives in English. We saw that…
A possessive construction in English shows that one thing belongs to another thing.
There are two main possessive constructions in English: possessive -'s and x of y.
To make a possessive with -'s, just add -'s to the owner and then say the thing that is owned: owner’s owned. If the owner has a plural -s, just add -’.
If the possessor is not a person or an animal, use x y: owned of possessor.
Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns also show that one thing belongs to another thing.
If you’re feeling more confident about forming the possessive in English, take a look at our English possessives practice activities!
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